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Nick Jr.
Nick Jr. was a cable block in the United States that is aimed at preschoolers. It is where the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! episodes first premiered on from 2003-2009. Buildup Before 1988, many shows that might be associated with a preschool audience were broadcast on Nickelodeon, but weren't specifically distinguished in their own programming block. Most preschool programs were shown roughly between the hours of 6 AM and 6 PM Eastern (like Noggin on Dish Network). 1988–1993 From the morning of January 4, 1988, onwards, the Nick Jr. brand was in place and in use, with an approximate six-hour portion of the Nickelodeon broadcast day, at 6:00am – 6:00pm every day. The logo for the new Nick Jr. brand became a distinctive feature for the block. At first, the Nick. Jr. logo was orange for 'Nick' and blue for 'Jr.'. The logo varied in the shape or species (e.g. two stars, two trains, two trees, two robots, two balls, two castles, two pigs, two cows, two horses, two brothers, two cats, two dogs). Until July 1990, a former staple of the Nickelodeon lineup, Pinwheel was featured, originally for three hours (two at the beginning and one at noon), then for one hour during spring-summer 1989. When Eureeka's Castle premiered in September 1989, Pinwheel was split into two separate half hours in the morning and afternoon, where it remained until July 1990. Much of the remaining time in the lineup, particularly early in this time period, was devoted to animated series, many of which were of foreign origin (The World of David the Gnome, Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show, Noozles, The Adventures of the Little Koala, The Adventures of the Little Prince, The Littl' Bits, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, Maya the Bee, Maple Town, Curious George, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies). Programming of both live action and puppeted preschool programming also appeared during this time. Many of Nick Jr.'s network IDs were produced by VideoWorks Inc.. 1993–1994 On April 5, 1993, Nick Jr. premiered a new series, Cappelli and Company, and introduced its first re-brand in five years, with promotional elements featuring an orange figure with the word 'NICK' it resembling a parent and a blue figure with the word\ 'JR,' in it resembling a child doing activities. The promos and bumpers introduced a new female announcer and often featured kids playing near the Nick Jr. logo. Several Nick Jr. promos and bumpers carried the slogan 'Grow, Learn, and Play'. The re-brand was unsuccessful, and Nickelodeon decided to spend $30 million on revamping their Nick Jr. block in 1994. 1994–2004 The block's pre-Face era ended its six-year run on Friday, September 2, 1994, alongside Papa Beaver's Storytime. On Monday, September 5, 1994, Nick Jr. re-branded and introduced a new female announcer as well as Face, an animated host that introduced, and wrapped up shows, and smaller variety pieces. In the context of his segments, Face was capable of materializing objects such as an astronaut, a robot, a clown, a window, a traffic light, stars, even wood, and of creating any number of foley sound effects including a signature three note 'trumpet' noise used to lead up to the slogan Play to learn, followed by a nod. Face was voiced by Chris Phillips who also voiced Roger Klotz on Disney's Doug and various promos and TV commercials (including many Nickelodeon bumpers and promos from 1995 to 2013). More than 400 Face promos were created and produced by Nick Digital from 1994–1996 and 1999–2003, and later at Data Motion Arts from 1996–1999, and finally at Vee-Pee Cartoons from 2003–2004. From this point forward, he changed colors, moods, and feelings, and during the fall of 1994, Nick Jr. introduced two new original series; Gullah Gullah Island and Allegra's Window. Programming during this period included (but wasn't limited to) Allegra's Window, Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island, Blue's Clues, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Franklin, Rupert, Rugrats (re-runs, also aired as part of the original Nickelodeon), Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, The Muppet Show, Eureeka's Castle, and Bob the Builder. Nick Jr. re-branded again in 1996, 1998, and 2001; in 1998, Nick Jr.'s female announcer was replaced with a different one. The original Face segments ended their run on Sunday, August 31, 2003. On Monday, September 1, 2003, Nick Jr. re-branded and introduced more than a dozen new logos. Face was given a new look, which added eyebrows and a chin and straightened the eyes by inverting their colors from white dots on black eyes to black, larger dots on white eyes. Also, his voice turned into a D.J. rapper-like voice. Nick Jr.'s female announcer was replaced with Chris Phillips and a male announcer. A new series of segments called Nick Jr. Play Along debuted, which were hosted by two fun, live-action hosts – Robin (played by actress Hillary Hawkins) and Zack (played by actor Travis Guba4). Alongside Robin and Zack were four sock puppets called the Feetbeats. The new Face's last day on Nick Jr. aired on Sunday, October 5, 2004 alongside Little Bill. After that, a new mascot (which is a green sea turtle) named Toots and the first show with that look was ChalkZone (which first aired two days prior). Toots's last day on the block was on October 10, 2004. 2004-2007 On Monday, October 11, 2004, Nick Jr. introduced a new mascot named Piper O'Possum, and also was branded by a new slogan, "Nick Jr! We Love to Play!" and the first program with this look was Tweenies. The Piper O' Possum segments ended the three-year run on Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 2:00 pm ET, with Little Bear being the last program that aired with this look. 2007–2009 On Monday, September 10, 2007 at 9:00 am ET, Nick Jr. was updated and introduced new graphics and music. The Nick Jr. logo's shapes resembled plushies now. The plushies seen in the logos included robots, bunnies, and monkeys. This saw the new look, which indicates preschoolers to play and learn with Nick Jr.''characters. The first program aired with this look was ''Tiny Planets. This marks the first time that there was no mascot on Nick Jr. since 1994, However in 2008, Kipper was permanently pulled from the schedule in January and reruns were moved to Noggin, and Gullah Gullah Island being dropped in September and got replaced with Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Season 2 and reran on Noggin (like Kipper). Since October 2008 this is also being done with 64 Zoo Lane, suggesting that it too may disappear to Noggin eventually (however, unlike the other two shows, they also sometimes are showing it at 7am Eastern/4am Pacific). In 2009 Nick Jr. signed off for the last time after showing an episode of Little Bear. 2009–2014 2014–present The Nick Jr. block ended its twenty one-year run on February 1, 2009, with Little Bear ''as the last program to air. ''Nick Jr. shows continued airing on the slot, but with the Nickelodeon branding, replacing the Nick Jr. branding, and the addition of more frequent commercial advertising. On September 28, 2009, Noggin changed its name to Nick Jr. as a 24/7 TV channel. This makes it the first that Nickelodeon doesn't brand its preschool shows in a program block since 1988. On May 5, 2014, Nickelodeon began using the "Nick Jr." name in advertisements to refer to both the network and block. When aired on the Nick Jr. channel, commercials for programs broadcast on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block usually end with "Nick Jr. over on Nickelodeon" to differentiate the titles. Category:TV Guide Category:Season 1 Category:Season 2 Category:Season 3